Effectiveness of add-on yoga in reducing the symptoms of obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD): A randomized controlled trial

Background: The standard treatments for Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD) have been pharmacological and psychotherapeutic, with preliminary evidence for yoga as an intervention. Aim: To test the short-term effects of a validated yoga intervention as an adjunct to medication in patients with OCD. Settings and design: The study included patients diagnosed with OCD attending a tertiary psychiatry hospital in south India using a Randomized Controlled Trial (RCT) design. Methods: The study included 50 patients with OCD who were randomized into yoga group (n=25) and waitlist control group (n=25). All patients continued medication during the period of study. 42 subjects (Yoga=20, waitlist control=22) completed the study period of 4 weeks. Patients in the yoga group received 10 supervised sessions of a validated yoga module for OCD and continued home practice for next 20 days. Patients were rated on the Yale Brown Obsessive Compulsive Scale, Hamilton Anxiety Rating Scale, Hamilton Depression Rating Scale and Brown Assessment of Beliefs Scale at baseline and end of 4th week by raters who were blind to group status. For qualitative assessment, subjects were interviewed individually till data saturation was reached (n=11). Results: Patients randomized to yoga showed significant improvement in Obsessions (p-<0.001) (eta 2-1.3), Compulsions (p-0.007) (eta 2-0.8), Anxiety (p-0.002) (eta 2-1.0) and Depression (0.003) (eta 2-0.9) scores compared to patients in the waitlist control group. Qualitative results showed that yoga was efficacious in improving physical, mental, and overall health. Conclusion: Yoga-based intervention as an adjunct to medication was effective in reducing symptoms in outpatients with OCD over 4 weeks.